Fast food worth a stop: America's best regional chains
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on May 1, 2015, and updated on May 19, 2016.
With first-rate barbecue joints opening from Brooklyn to Southern California, you no longer have to go to Texas to get great smoked brisket. Once the monopoly of coastal New England seafood shacks, you can now find specialist Maine lobster roll shops from Manhattan to the Las Vegas Strip. Thanks to an increasingly nationalized food scene, what were once obscure local specialties have proliferated and many formerly regional chains like the South's beloved Chick-fil-A and the Middle Atlantic's Five Guys have gone national. But there are still plenty of regionally limited standout chains with avid fans, local flair and authentic fare, and they are well worth seeking out - part of the discovery that makes travel special.
"Especially in the South and West, if you go beyond the big five national chains, you can find some interesting choices," said Andrew Knowlton, restaurant editor for Bon Appetit magazine. Now based in New York, Knowlton grew up in the South eating at chains like Bojangles', and just worked a 24-hour shift cooking and waiting tables at his personal favorite, Waffle House, for a feature for the magazine. "If you go to Whataburger in Texas or Waffle House anywhere, you get a feel you won't find anyplace else, a fast food terroir."
Whether it's St. Louis' unique style of pizza or Chicago's oddly loaded hot dogs, folks feel very strongly about their local foods and chains, as Knowlton pointed out. "The defensiveness that comes with regional food is second only to that of local sports teams. A lot of them are inexplicably delicious – but only if you are from there."
Knowlton and several other experts on American regional cuisine chimed in to help select the best regional chains across America. All agreed there are some delicious and unique tastes out there, but no one could quite agree how to define region or chain or even fast food. For instance, the favorites of Colman Andrews, editorial director of website TheDailyMeal.com, ranged from Midwestern-born sandwich specialist Jimmy John's, with over 2,000 outlets in 43 states, to The Varsity, with just seven locations – all in Georgia. Some are big and some are tiny, but all are worth trying for their unique spin on road food.
Waffle House
The biggest chain on our list, with over 2,000 outlets, Knowlton's beloved 24-7 Georgia-based Waffle House now reaches as far north as New York, but clings to its Southern flair and hospitality. "I've got nothing against a good Belgian waffle, but the plague of dense, doughy ones is an increasingly troublesome black mark on American breakfast. That is why I treasure thin-tread Waffle House waffles, especially when loaded with butter and drenched with syrup and maybe doubled-up with double bacon on the side," said Michael Stern, co-author of the Roadfood series of books and Roadfood.com, devoted to the best eats along American motorways. While famous for breakfast, which includes regional options like grits and biscuits with sausage gravy, lunch and dinner options such as chili, patty melts and even T-bone steaks are extremely popular. The very first Waffle House, in Decatur, Ga., is now a full-blown museum.
White Castle
Bon Appetit's Knowlton doesn't get why people feel so strongly that its fans have their own nickname ("cravers"), but many other experts do. Said Stern, "It is the aroma at least as much as the taste that makes White Castle so endearing – that distinctive mix of greasy beef and sizzling-soft onion, with a bit of pickle tang and a hint of yeast from the itty-bitty bun." Adam Sachs, editor in chief of Saveur magazine, picked it as his single favorite regional chain, explaining that, "You have to give credit to White Castle for their unwavering commitment to manufacturing a very mushy burger (VMB). I mean, they invented technology – 'steam-grilling' atop a bed of onions - to ensure that the meat of the aptly-named slider stays as consistently sodden as the damp bun on which it is served (and from which it is, in taste and texture, nearly indistinguishable)." One of America's oldest restaurant chains, the place that invented the "slider" is found in a dozen rather randomly separated states across the Northeast, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and South, all of which consider it their local institution. Most recently, in 2015 White Castle opened by far its westernmost outpost – smack in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip. Nevada is the first new state the chain has ventured into in many years.
Lou Malnati's
"There are so many bad and bogus Chicago-style, deep-dish pizzas, it is a special pleasure to eat the real thing at Lou Malnati's. I believe this is as good as it gets – pizza redefined as a whole new food group," said Stern. There is only one truly national deep-dish chain and three more major players in the Chicago area, but of these, Lou Malnati's is the best, set apart by its superior crust, rich and decadent yet light. Buttery and flaky, it's more like pie crust than traditional pizza dough. Its popularity has led to about 45 restaurants, all in Illinois, plus a thriving mail order business for frozen pizzas. While pepperoni is the bestselling topping nationwide, here the two most popular pizzas are the Chicago Classic, with ground patty-style sausage and cheese, and the Lou, a surprising four-cheese blend of mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan and romano with spinach and mushrooms.
Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q & Moe's Original Bar B Que
These two consensus best barbecue chains have a lot in common – both are homespun products of Alabama with a significant presence in mountainous Colorado. Jim 'N Nick's was launched by a father and son team in a former dry cleaning shop in Birmingham, Ala., three decades ago. The restaurants are big, sit-down, full-service eateries, more fast casual than fast food, but many have drive-throughs as well. Quality is high, they even have their own heritage pig breeding program in development. Bon Appetit's Knowlton said: "The meat is good and it comes from good places because they have great sources." The barbecue is good across the board, but what makes the chain stand out is its unique slate of Southern-flavored starters, from the signature and highly addictive cheese biscuits to Creamy Collard Green Dip with tortilla chips. There are about 30 locations in seven states clustered in the South and Rockies. Moe's was launched in Vail, Colo., by a trio of University of Alabama buddies turned ski bums, and their folksy growth strategy has been to help more recent alums of their alma mater open branches. The Alabama-centric menu is large and varied, including exceptional fried shrimp po' boys, a trademark of the state's Gulf Coast, along with decadent one-of-a-kind boneless rib sandwiches. Moe's has been growing by leaps and bounds and recently added Maine and California, with its next locations in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Bozeman, Mont. That will give them more than 45 locations across 13 states.
Whataburger
One of the nation's four original fast food burger chains (with White Castle, Krystal and In-n-Out), Whataburger began as a college eatery serving $0.25 burgers in Corpus Christi, Texas. More than six decades later, over 700 locations span a dozen Southeastern and Southwestern states. Like White Castle and Waffle House, but unlike almost all other fast food eateries, the chain is open 24 hours a day. Patties and buns are considerably larger than the national competition, a generous 5 inches in diameter, cooked to order and delivered to your table. Whataburger has unique regional variations, such as Green Chile Cheeseburgers only in the Southwest and its Chop Burger, with homemade steak sauce, only in the Southeast. Fans love the chain's own condiments so much that they sell them in bottles and do a brisk business, including ketchup, peppercorn ranch sauce, jalapeño ranch, mayo, honey mustard and the signature creamy pepper sauce. The latter is the secret to its delicious patty melts – a sandwich few fast food chains offer – and a unique departure from the myriad Thousand Island dressing-based burger sauces out there. "Whataburger defies all the rules of fast food burgers by being extremely well-made, beautifully dressed and efficiently served," said Stern.
Burgerville
Unique to the Pacific Northwest, Burgerville has been around for 50 years and has about 40 locations, yet few outside of Washington, Oregon and Vancouver know the place. That's a shame, because everything - the burgers, shakes and Yukon gold waffle fries - is so good. The chain posts all of its suppliers on its website, like Coleman Natural Meats for chicken and Oregon's Country Natural Beef for burger meat. Most are very local - the hazelnuts in their signature shakes are grown in Oregon. Roadfood's Michael Stern says, "I never visit the Pacific Northwest without at least one meal here. I am in awe of Burgerville, which manages to be such a taste of its region (hazelnut milkshakes, Tillamoook cheeseburgers, Walla Walla onion rings) and yet so slick and efficient." Other regional tastes include chocolate cherry shakes, wild Alaskan halibut fish and chips, and an entrée salad with smoked wild salmon and hazelnuts. Part fast food burgers, part locavore gourmet, all delicious!
Zaxby's
Chicken wings remain one of America's favorite snack foods, yet virtually no fast food restaurants serve them, an odd oversight. Zaxby's, on the other hand, is a fast growing empire built on wings: From a single eatery in a Georgia college town it has grown into the biggest chain many northerners have never heard of, with more than 700 outlets across sixteen mostly southern states. With booths and dressed-up interiors more like Chili's or TGI Fridays than fast food, Zaxby's still serves fast at the counter and drive-through, but with flair. The menu is built around a poultry triumvirate of wings, boneless wings and breaded tenders, each in a range of saucy options, including Asian flavors, tomato-based barbecue sauce and five heat levels of traditional Buffalo-style. Zaxby's keeps its concept simple, but has become popular for one simple reason: The food tastes good.
Biscuitville
Several biscuit-centric eateries got honorable mentions, including Bojangles' and Chick-fil-A, but Biscuitville's focus won out and Knowlton exclaimed "I'm a big Biscuitville fan." Its namesake products have just three ingredients - flour, shortening and buttermilk - and are continuously rolled, cut and baked in full view of patrons, always fresh. The menu is heavily Southernized, with breakfast biscuit sandwiches that go way beyond just bacon, egg and cheese and include fried chicken, chicken fried steak, fried pork chops, country-style ham, pimento cheese and of course biscuits with sausage gravy. That's just breakfast; the rest of the menu features large sandwiches of pulled pork, fried catfish, grilled and fried chicken, and all sorts of combos with pimento cheese and country ham. Sides are unique and equally regionalized, especially for fast food, with fried okra, fried pickles and sweet potato casserole. All 54 Biscuitville locations are owned by the same family, no franchises, and almost all are in North Carolina with a few in Virginia.
The Varsity
With seven locations, all in Georgia, The Varsity personifies the big fish in the small pond version of regional chain. Its original downtown Atlanta location is the world's largest drive-in, seating over 800, yet still has car hop service. The Varsity still greets every patron personally and serves 300 gallons of chili daily, most of it on burgers and hot dogs. But the signature dishes that give it regional flair are cheeseburgers with pimento cheese and fried pie, also known in the Ozarks as "hand pie," a sealed pastry stuffed with apples or - this being Georgia - peaches. The Varsity also has its own special ordering lingo, a quickly disappearing hallmark of regional eateries, including "heavyweight" (hot dog with extra chili), "steak" (burger with pickles, mustard and ketchup), "bag of rags" (potato chips) and "PC" (chocolate milk on the rocks). TheDailyMeal's Andrews was succinct in his praise: "Classic fast food burgers. Sweet tea, too." There's now one in the Hartsfield airport for travelers.
Anthony's Coal Oven Pizza
Imagine a Florida pizza chain doing New Haven-style pizza so well that it has been exported to New York – that's Anthony's. It was launched in 2002 as a casual offshoot of the red sauce, old school, Italian American fine dining and aviation-themed Fort Lauderdale eatery, Anthony's Runway 84. Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza has received glowing reviews and a hearty response from Floridians, and 14 years later already has more than two dozen locations across the Sunshine State and another 30-plus in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Massachusetts. Their pizzas are cooked in an 800-degree coal oven until just slightly blackened, and are delicious. But so are the unique oven-roasted wings, and the simple but tasty Italian salad with strong olives, hardboiled egg, chick peas and celery. Or try the eggplant Marino, named for business partner and former Miami Dolphins star Dan Marino. In a Sun Sentinel readers' poll they took top honors in all of South Florida for Best Pizzeria,Best Wings, Best Meatballs and Best Service.